


My Boy

by Carmenlire



Series: Tumblr Prompts [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Background Luke Garroway/Maryse Lightwood, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Good Parent Maryse Lightwood, Happy Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, I'm just here for a good time, M/M, Maryse Lightwood Redemption, POV Maryse, POV Outsider, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, also the timeline is shit, shadowhunters are not poor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 21:48:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15128492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carmenlire/pseuds/Carmenlire
Summary: Maryse takes a sip of her drink-- deliciously sweet and ice-cold-- and has just opened her book when the little bell above the door chimes and she looks up in reflex, only to do a double take.Alec walks in and she almost doesn’t recognize him.She's blinded by Alec’s grin. Tucked in the back, Maryse waits for Alec to see her but his gaze is unmoving as he takes his aviators off and tucks them into his shirt, whose first few buttons are undone, and heads towards the table by the window.Tumblr Prompt: Maryse observes Alec and Magnus in a café being totally in love.SH Creators Summer Prompts: "Oh, bite me."





	My Boy

Maryse opens the door to the coffee shop and breathes in the cool air. Even as goosebumps raise on her arms, she’s relaxing into the air conditioning. The temperature is hovering just under a hundred degrees and the humidity makes everything that much more miserable. 

She can’t find it in herself to resent the heat, though. Just a few short months ago she would have been safely ensconced in the Institute or Idris, running around in heels and a severe hairstyle that left her head aching by mid morning. If she left her bubble of the Shadow World at all it would have been for a quick dash to the closest deli, eating a dry, bland sandwich as she ticked off the endless tasks on her to-do list.

These days, her life is much more casual. Slow. Relaxed.

It’s nice.

While it’s been one hell of an adjustment, emotional and terrifying, Maryse has come to the conclusion that she wouldn’t change a thing.

She’s just past forty and she’s never felt better. Just last month she started taking classes at a local community college. Nothing as practical or mercenary as business or biology, though she’s a competent hand at both.

No, Maryse is enrolled in college taking whatever strikes her fancy. It’d taken her a little bit to gain her footing in the mundane world, but she’s slowly getting accustomed to the different set of expectations. 

It’s a definite advantage that she doesn’t have to worry about money. As Head of the Institute for so long, she’d racked up quite the savings and while her deruning meant that it all went to her beneficiaries-- Alec, Isabelle, eventually Max in an even three-way split-- Alec had given her free reign over his portion, telling her when he’d initially handed her the signed papers that _you’re my mother and this money was always meant for you. It’s not fair that they stripped you of both your runes and your hard-earned money. Take what’s yours, mom, and make the life you want_.

So, she was. She had a cute little apartment on the Upper West Side and she was taking a few classes in subjects that caught her eye-- the history of India, French literature, astronomy 101.

She hadn’t decided on a major yet and didn’t know if she ever would. Her goal, for once, wasn’t the finish line. A degree wouldn’t symbolize success or a mission completed. No, she was going to enjoy the meandering path set out for her and take classes as they interested her.

Maryse steps up to the counter and orders a double chocolate frappuccino. She’s meeting Luke for dinner and plans to spend her afternoon in this cheery coffeeshop reading the latest assigned book for her lit class due by the end of the week. She pays with a card and just a few minutes later she’s heading towards a cozy chair, setting her drink on the small table next to it.

She sits and lets out a little sigh of pleasure. She’d been on the go all morning, completing her grocery shopping and laundry. She’s looking forward to the next few hours, relaxing in the quiet café and getting absorbed in a good book.

Maryse has always enjoyed reading, but she doesn’t think that she read one book since Max was born-- maybe since she had Isabelle. Between having active children, an Institute to keep running smoothly, and trying to outrun her disastrous mistakes, Maryse hadn’t had the time or energy to indulge her favorite hobby.

She’s making up for lost time now.

Maryse takes a sip of her drink-- deliciously sweet and ice-cold-- and has just opened up _Germinal_ to her bookmark when the little bell above the door chimes and she looks up in reflex, only to do a double take.

Alec walks in and she almost doesn’t recognize him.

Her son is wearing a pair of shorts and a camp shirt with-- are those _birds?_ It looks like his dark blue shirt has little pink flamingos and palm trees all over it. It’s whimsical and fun and suddenly Maryse remembers Alec’s favorite piece of clothing when he was little had been a bright red pair of shorts covered with sea turtles.

Before he’d grown into a proper shadowhunter, Alec had loved bright clothes with fun details. Then suddenly, he’d favored nothing but utilitarian black.

Now that she thinks of it, Maryse swallows a little pang. That should have been a clue that her little boy was changing-- and not for the better. She should have caught it. She should have noticed it then and fixed it, made sure that Alec’s light never dimmed, not for an instant.

Brought back to the present, Maryse is blinded by Alec’s grin. Tucked in the back, Maryse waits for Alec to see her but his gaze is unmoving as he takes his aviators off and tucks them into his shirt, whose first few buttons are undone.

He moves into the shop and goes straight to a table in the front corner. It’s then that she sees Magnus, talking animatedly into his phone, waving his free hand in broad motions as he seems to be arguing with the person on the other line.

Maryse is surprised yet again at Magnus’s appearance. He looks the most dressed down that she’s ever seen him. He’s wearing an all black outfit, cuffed ripped jeans showing off a glittering ankle bracelet and paired with a plain black tank top. He’s wearing the same style shoes that Alec wore every day in his teen years. It takes her a minute but she remembers the brand-- Vans.

Alec strolls over to Magnus and leans down, kissing the top of his head and startling him, before coming down and sitting in the chair opposite him.

Maryse forgets about the book in her hand as her eyes are glued to the couple in front of her. It’s rare to see the two of them so relaxed. Maryse regularly visits their loft for dinner but now she’s realizing that they still keep a bit of distance from her. They don’t let her see them-- their relationship-- in full, even at their home.

Right now she’s treated to a front row seat to the power couple of New York-- her son and his boyfriend-- and there’s nothing more interesting than that.

Alec and Magnus grin at each other and Alec wraps a foot around Magnus’s. Magnus reaches for Alec’s hand over the table and it looks like they’re having a silent conversation. Alec tilts his head and nods to Magnus’s empty cup, raising his brow. Magnus nods and then Alec’s standing again and making his way to the front counter. There’s a bit of a line and Maryse watches Magnus as he watches Alec.

Maryse has no doubt that Magnus loves her son. He’s been through too much for Alec-- _because_ of Alec-- not to be devoted and totally in love. But it’s something else to see the way his eyes linger on Alec’s back. He’s still on the phone, not skipping a beat as he responds rapid-fire to the other person, but it’s obvious that his attention is somewhere else.

Alec grabs two drinks from the counter and makes his way carefully back to the table. In front of Magnus, he sets down an iced americano. As for himself, Maryse is surprised to see a drink that looks identical to hers-- something sweet and light and decadent.

She didn’t know Alec shared her sweet tooth.

Briefly, Maryse wishes that she could activate a hearing rune but thankfully the café is relatively quiet with most people working on things silently. Plus, the room isn’t all that big so she just has to lean forward a little, trying to remain inconspicuous, to catch everything.

Magnus ends the phone call just as Alec sits down and rolls his eyes in exasperation.

“Darling, I just got off the phone with the most odious man.”

Alec raises a brow, looking suitably intrigued. “What’d he do?”

Without looking, Magnus’s hand finds Alec and he intertwines their fingers as he starts explaining. “How he found my number I’ll never know but as soon as I answered with my customary greeting he growled down the line demanding my services. When I asked what he needed the High Warlock of Brooklyn for, he had the audacity to say that his business partner had become a nuisance and he needed a surefire way to get him out of the picture.”

Alec’s lips twitch a little as he hooks his ankle back around Magnus’s. Somberly he asks, “What was your price?”

“Alexander!” Magnus looks outraged, full of fire and annoyance. “I didn’t _accept_. I’m no one’s common assassin. Especially when the motive is nothing but corporate greed.”

“But, babe, just think. I’ve become accustomed to a certain lifestyle and this gig could have kept me comfortable for a while.” Alec’s wearing a shit-eating grin and Magnus narrows his eyes before he sighs in resignation.

“Of course,” he says. “What was I thinking? I need to keep my man happy and if the only way to do that is to kill unsuspecting businessmen with my magical prowess, than who am I to complain? Someone has to buy your greasy bacon burgers, after all.”

There’s a moment of silence before both of them bust out laughing. Maryse is surprised to feel her own lips turning up, smiling at their silliness and banter. She can’t help but think that if she’d overheard this conversation just a short time ago, she would've immediately assumed the worst, would have taken the words at face value and condemned Magnus.

How things change.

How glad she is that they do.

After a moment, they settle down and Maryse takes in the wide grins both are sporting. They look happy. _Alec_ looks happy. She’s gotten so used to her son being an impenetrable fortress that it still seems strange to see him open and displaying an emotion that’s not anger or dread. Alec looks peaceful and relaxed. It’s the middle of a summer day and her boy is shirking his duties, taking time to enjoy life. It’s healthy and necessary and Maryse is proud of him.

Alec has always taken chances. Sometimes misguided ones, a lot of the time ones born out of a need to protect and complete orders, but he’s always been someone willing to go the extra mile. He’d taken a chance on Magnus-- on his own life-- and it’s obvious that it’s paid off in spades.

Maryse looks at them and can’t help the wistful sigh that escapes her.

Magnus and Alec are in the middle of a crowded coffee shop but it’s like the world doesn’t exist outside of the two of them. They’re wrapped up in their own little bubble full of light and love. It’s obvious for anyone to see.

It’s a special kind of love that can make the observer feel like an interloper, like what they’re seeing is too intimate, too precious, to witness even if it’s innocuous. The honeymoon stage is notorious for being nauseatingly sweet. But to display that same devotion and wonder a year into a relationship? In five years or a lifetime later? Maryse has never been a believer but it seems ordained by the gods.

Maryse turns away from their table, gaze going back to her neglected book. She opens it back up but can’t focus on the words, still preoccupied with Alec and Magnus just a few feet away. They’ve been together just over a year but both of them have changed so much. Her boy, one of the lights of her life, has smiled more in this coffee shop than he did during the five years before he met Magnus.

While Maryse’s marriage had went up in smoke, ending in disaster, she still believes in the old shadowhunter wive's tale-- they fall in love once with a sort of desperate fervor that will never wane or die. They find that person young and cling with all their strength.

Magnus is Alec’s person. Maryse doesn’t know if Magnus is aware of just how much he means to Alec.

And by extension, how much he means to her.

Maryse will be the first to admit that she’s deeply flawed. She can be incredibly judgemental, she gets anxious in crowds, she has a frigid temper. Her family has always been her strength though, no matter how she displayed that in the past, and whoever is important to her family is important to her.

Seeing the two of them in love and oblivious has cemented things in a new way. She wants to keep Alec smiling and she wants their relationship to succeed.

She’s jarred out of her reverie by the sound of chairs scraping on wood. She looks up and sees that Magnus and Alec are now standing.

They’re laughing about something and Maryse tunes back in to them, wanting details.

Alec walks around the table and wraps his arms around Magnus’s waist, pulling him close. His eyes crinkle at the corners as he smiles down at his boyfriend.

“What did I tell you about going to Wikipedia for spoilers, Magnus? It always ends in disaster.”

Magnus rolls his eyes as he leans further into Alec, bringing his arms up until they’re around his neck. “Oh, bite me, Alexander.”

Before Magnus can finish his thought, Alec says, “Maybe later,” in a voice so low she barely hears it.

Maryse can’t help her blush and wishes she hadn’t.

Magnus just huffs out a laugh and tilts his head up, kissing Alec once, twice, three times on the lips. Chaste pecks that light and draw smiles from both.

“As I was saying,” Magnus continues, “It’s really not my fault. Something happened in that episode and I was dying to know who Brooke ended up with. I had to have answers, darling. The suspense was killing me. But of course I ended up finding out one of the biggest spoilers of the whole goddamn show in the process.”

Alec shakes his head, soft smile on his mouth. “You know what they say, love. Curiousity killed the cat.”

Magnus looks at Alec, triumphant. “And you do know the rest of that saying, right? And satisfaction brought it back,” he says, smugly and with a feral gleam in his eye.

Alec raises a brow. “In that case I believe we have places to be, don’t we?”

Alec steps back, takes Magnus’s hand as they head to the door, throwing their drinks away on their way out.

Maryse watches them leave with a smile. As they walk past the window of the coffee shop, sunglasses on and holding hands, Maryse can’t help but think that the mundanes have no idea who’s in their midst.

The most powerful couple in New York, undoubtedly. A ruthless soldier and one of the most powerful warlocks in the world, without question.

A love story for the ages, definitely.

Maryse laughs a little, to herself, and settles back in her chair, taking the last few sips of her drink and opening her book, finally set on reading the damned thing.

She’s just getting into it when the chime dings above the door and her face breaks into a grin as she takes in the handsome figure walking through the door in his detective’s outfit.

Her heart flutters and she shuts her book without a second thought, standing up to embrace the man she’s just a little in love with.

It’s only been a little while, but she can’t help but think she’s never felt like this before.

Certainly not with her ex-husband.

Luke hugs her, brushes his lips against her cheek, and Maryse has a second to think that maybe it’s not too late to find her person, too.

Then she’s not thinking at all as Luke takes her hand, intertwines their fingers, and asks about her day.

As they sit in the coffee shop and talk about anything and everything, Maryse knows that these simple moments make life fun and worth it. Her heart is light and full and across town she knows her son feels the same.

Love might make fools of everyone, but there's no denying that its their salvation, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Catch me on tumblr @carmenlire! I'm always accepting prompts :)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Podfic: My Boy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17551043) by [Djapchan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Djapchan/pseuds/Djapchan)




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